Have you ever thought about what drives us to have more? Why we need a more expensive, newer car, the latest gadget, a bigger house, more money? Does what we have not work? Does our survival depend on it? Or is it simply a matter of social status? Why is it so pressing that we keep up with the Joneses?

We humans are wired to survive. We need shelter. We need food. We need security from those who might harm us. And once we have those bases covered, we need to belong. We need to be needed and we need to know that we can count on others when we need them.

But when do our needs become frivolous? What marks the event when we’ve gone too far? When we must ‘have it’ just for the sake of ‘having it’? When we decide to live outside of our means and willingly fall into debt? When do we cross that line of pure greed that sacrifices our fellow (wo)man’s ability to survive?

I bought a pair of new shoes at the Core…and then returned them 2 days later. Today. I had only wore them on carpeted floor for a few hrs…but the salesclerk gave me a hard time. My reason was that I decided I really didn’t like them after all as much as I had thought in the store.

I was your most honest customer. I didn’t even bother making up a lie about poor fit. The reason why I think I got a hard time, is that other customers had brought in more seriously worn shoes, demanding a refund.

I will never buy another of pairs unless I really wanted them. I also remember I had 2 new prs. of shoes in closet…..talk about questioning sanity.

Great question Diana. When is enough, enough?
In “A Christmas Carol,” Jacob Marley shows up as a ghost. His is shackled by money boxes. The greed and avarice that bound him in life continued to do so in his death. Jesus tells us that those things that we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven and those things that we bind on earth will be bound in heaven. I think Jacob Marley in his sadness was caught in Purgatory, or worse, by his greed. Yet his visit helped to facilitate Scrooge’s salvation, and in turn possibly his own.
This Christmas we can learn from Jacob Marley what is truly our treasures. And if they must be looked away for safe keeping, then they are not reassures worthy of our attention.
-Alan

Let me write it more clearly.
This Christmas we can learn from Jacob Marley what is truly our treasures. And if they must be locked away for safe keeping, then they are not worthy of our attention.
-Alan
p.s. loved the quote from Chesterton. I am a fan.

Not me. I’ve been kind of an anti-materialist all my life (learned it from my parents). I buy things and then wear them out. And pretty much everything I own is functional in some way — no fripperies. I was just never into having. (The only debt I carry is my mortgage. And occasionally a car loan for a few years.)

I’ve read that some folks are never 100% happy with what they buy. They’re always concerned they could have paid less or could have gotten a better version or whatever. Such folks are always looking to trade up to the best and newest.

Other folks (and I certainly fit in this group) find something that more-or-less meets their needs and are fine with it. They don’t place any value on the endless search for better, newer, or cheaper.

This describes the old me & I honestly do not know why I wanted the bigger house, newer car, etc. The only explanation I can come up with now that I am the opposite is simply that is the way I have been taught. Through friends, family, advertising, etc. It seems I was just going with the flow of what I should do like everyone else. Now that I no longer desire to be like everyone else, my desire for more things has disappeared.

Reading the Buddhist was helping to me in figuring out this desire for more and more. Our desire is ego driven. I’ve come to believe the ego is like that car that would take me to Montreal when I am trying to get to Vancouver. I wouldn’t keep that car very long. It takes real discipline to master that ego. And mostly we never master it. Because enough is never enough. Just look at the society we live in.